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Mattia Preti (Il Cavaliere Calabrese), artist
Italian, 1613 - 1699
St. John the Baptist Preaching, circa 1665
oil on canvas
85 1/2 x 67 (217.2 x 170.2 cm)
Museum purchase, Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Income Fund and Kathryn Bache Miller Fund 1981.32

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Artist Biography: Mattia Preti was born in Taverna, a town in Calabria then part of the kingdom of Naples. The young Preti joined his brother Gregorio, also a painter, in Rome around 1630. Between that time and 1653, when he moved to Naples, Preti traveled widely throughout northern Italy. During this period his initial Caravaggism, evident in both style and subject matter, was increasingly tempered by classicizing elements derived from Domenichino, Giovanni Lanfranco, Pier Francesco Mola, Pietro Testa, and Guercino, among others. Most important in Preti's new, more sensuous palette was the influence of the Venetian High Renaissance, reflecting a general neo-Venetianism that characterized much Italian baroque painting at midcentury. In 1641 or 1642, while in Rome, Preti was created a knight in the Order of Saint John of Malta; thus he was called 11 Cavaliere Calabrese, the "knight from Calabria." Preti arrived in Naples in 1653, during the great plague, which by 1656 had killed about one half of the city's population, including many of her artists. Preti quickly established himself as the leading painter, a position vigorously challenged by the younger Luca Giordano. These two artists created the Neapolitan high baroque. In 1656 Preti was commissioned by the city administrators to paint a series of frescoes on the seven city gates, seeking divine protection from further ravages of the plague and ensuing famine. Continuing to work in Naples until he returned briefly to Rome in 1660 and then moving permanently to Malta in 1661, Preti carried out numerous public and private commissions. He worked prodigiously on the island for forty years. In addition, his enormous output included important fresco cycles in Rome, Modena, Naples, Valmontone, and Valletta, and numerous altarpieces fill the churches of Malta, Naples, and Taverna, his native town, where he sent many paintings. Preti died on 13 January 1699.

Related Keywords
Preaching Baptist the John St Miller Bache Kathryn Fund Income Oakes Margaret Roscoe purchase Museum Europe Italy Painting canvas oil Mattia Preti Il Cavaliere Calabrese Italian 7852312241980016 A303567 1981.32 EPTG